Post #13: King Lear Final Open Question
Prompt: Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that "Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted." Yet Said has also said that exile can become "a potent, even enriching" experience.
Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from "home," whether that home is the character's birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character's experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. you may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.
My Essay:
In King Lear by William Shakespeare, the beginning conflict we see is a daughter being rejected by her father because of a choice of words. This beginning conflict sets off a domino effect of barbaric and selfish actions being committed by almost every character in the play. Shakespeare depicts this effect by using characterization to depict the struggles of those who are rejected and the effect it has on the careless characters who rejected them.
King Lears favorite daughter, Cordelia, begins the play with an act of defiance against her father. The selfish Lear asked his daughters to flatter him with his words, when Cordelia was asked to do so, she responded in a negative way. "Nothing my Lord. Nothing? Nothing. Nothing will come of nothing, Speak again." (Shakespeare 1.1.85-88). Because of this act of defiance, Lear immediately disowns his daughter and orders her to leave. "Here I disclaim all my parental care, propinquity and property of blood.." (Shakespeare 1.1.111-112). This act alienates Cordelia because she is suddenly left without a family. She has a husband at her side, but not for long. While Cordelia is experiencing the painful rejection of her family, in a way, this is a blessing. Cordelia is no longer present for a majority of the horrific actions that occur after this event. She doesn't witness her fathers descent into insanity. She's not involved with the constant conflict between her sisters. She is allowed to do things at her own free will.
This alienation also allows Cordelia time to forgive her father. In the beginning, Cordelia is obviously devastated that she is being rejected by her entire family just for speaking her mind. Edward Said mentions that exile "its essential sadness can never be surmounted." When Cordelia gets exiled, she is in a state of sadness and grief. However, once she overcomes her grief and enters into acceptance. This later enables her to forgive her father.
We also see a lot of rejection towards King Lear himself. After Lear gets rid of Cordelia, his other daughters, Goneril and Regan, show rejection towards him. Regan and Goneril only care about themselves, so by getting Cordelia out of the picture, they were able to have better control over and manipulate Lear. This leads to Lear losing his sanity. When Lear is asking for a place to stay, his daughters refuse to help him. This is a complete contradiction to the flattery they showed him at the beginning, which they only did to help themselves. Lear is now understanding the rejection that Cordelia felt and sets out to right his wrongs.
Cordelia doesn't agree with her sisters' treatment of Lear which aids in her decision to forgive him, she sees he's going through the pain and rejection she felt and feels for him. Even though he did reject her, she still loves him and doesn't want to see him go through what she went through. Lear's new understanding of Cordelia leads him to ask for forgiveness "I'll kneel down and ask thee of forgiveness..." (Shakespeare 5.3.8).
Cordelia's rejection led her to a new and better relationship with her father that she wouldn't have been able to experience without her rejection or the events following it.
My Score: 5
Reflection:
I was being asked to write an essay analyzing how exile can be enriching and alienating.
I gave myself a score of 5 because I felt like I spent too much time summarizing instead of analyzing.
What score did your teacher give you and why?: 5 because I relied too much on plot summary and my support was too general. I also didn't only focus on one character.
The scores are similar/different because: The scores were the same because I think I understood that this wasn't my best analysis and I summarized too much.
The most relevant and useful part of the task is being given time to practice writing essays with prompts that are similar to those on the exam. Also being able to examine a completely different type of essay in which you can enter the essay with some form of preparation since it is based on text you know you are familiar with.
It is similar to the last essay we wrote, because it was an open question essay, but it was a completely different prompt.
I have learned that I need to focus less on summarizing and more on analyzing and I need to develop my analysis more.
One on one:
What score did you give yourself, and why?: I gave myself a 5 because I feel like I summarized too much.
What are two strategies you have just learned about that you believe will help improve your score in the future?: Three sentence thesis and tone shifts
What can I do to help support your learning and your preparation for the next prompt or multiple choice question set?: Keep introducing new strategies that we can use and aid in sharing more about how to write essays for the AP Lit exam and what they are looking for.
Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from "home," whether that home is the character's birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character's experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. you may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.
My Essay:
In King Lear by William Shakespeare, the beginning conflict we see is a daughter being rejected by her father because of a choice of words. This beginning conflict sets off a domino effect of barbaric and selfish actions being committed by almost every character in the play. Shakespeare depicts this effect by using characterization to depict the struggles of those who are rejected and the effect it has on the careless characters who rejected them.
King Lears favorite daughter, Cordelia, begins the play with an act of defiance against her father. The selfish Lear asked his daughters to flatter him with his words, when Cordelia was asked to do so, she responded in a negative way. "Nothing my Lord. Nothing? Nothing. Nothing will come of nothing, Speak again." (Shakespeare 1.1.85-88). Because of this act of defiance, Lear immediately disowns his daughter and orders her to leave. "Here I disclaim all my parental care, propinquity and property of blood.." (Shakespeare 1.1.111-112). This act alienates Cordelia because she is suddenly left without a family. She has a husband at her side, but not for long. While Cordelia is experiencing the painful rejection of her family, in a way, this is a blessing. Cordelia is no longer present for a majority of the horrific actions that occur after this event. She doesn't witness her fathers descent into insanity. She's not involved with the constant conflict between her sisters. She is allowed to do things at her own free will.
This alienation also allows Cordelia time to forgive her father. In the beginning, Cordelia is obviously devastated that she is being rejected by her entire family just for speaking her mind. Edward Said mentions that exile "its essential sadness can never be surmounted." When Cordelia gets exiled, she is in a state of sadness and grief. However, once she overcomes her grief and enters into acceptance. This later enables her to forgive her father.
We also see a lot of rejection towards King Lear himself. After Lear gets rid of Cordelia, his other daughters, Goneril and Regan, show rejection towards him. Regan and Goneril only care about themselves, so by getting Cordelia out of the picture, they were able to have better control over and manipulate Lear. This leads to Lear losing his sanity. When Lear is asking for a place to stay, his daughters refuse to help him. This is a complete contradiction to the flattery they showed him at the beginning, which they only did to help themselves. Lear is now understanding the rejection that Cordelia felt and sets out to right his wrongs.
Cordelia doesn't agree with her sisters' treatment of Lear which aids in her decision to forgive him, she sees he's going through the pain and rejection she felt and feels for him. Even though he did reject her, she still loves him and doesn't want to see him go through what she went through. Lear's new understanding of Cordelia leads him to ask for forgiveness "I'll kneel down and ask thee of forgiveness..." (Shakespeare 5.3.8).
Cordelia's rejection led her to a new and better relationship with her father that she wouldn't have been able to experience without her rejection or the events following it.
My Score: 5
Reflection:
I was being asked to write an essay analyzing how exile can be enriching and alienating.
I gave myself a score of 5 because I felt like I spent too much time summarizing instead of analyzing.
What score did your teacher give you and why?: 5 because I relied too much on plot summary and my support was too general. I also didn't only focus on one character.
The scores are similar/different because: The scores were the same because I think I understood that this wasn't my best analysis and I summarized too much.
The most relevant and useful part of the task is being given time to practice writing essays with prompts that are similar to those on the exam. Also being able to examine a completely different type of essay in which you can enter the essay with some form of preparation since it is based on text you know you are familiar with.
It is similar to the last essay we wrote, because it was an open question essay, but it was a completely different prompt.
I have learned that I need to focus less on summarizing and more on analyzing and I need to develop my analysis more.
One on one:
What score did you give yourself, and why?: I gave myself a 5 because I feel like I summarized too much.
What are two strategies you have just learned about that you believe will help improve your score in the future?: Three sentence thesis and tone shifts
What can I do to help support your learning and your preparation for the next prompt or multiple choice question set?: Keep introducing new strategies that we can use and aid in sharing more about how to write essays for the AP Lit exam and what they are looking for.
My development is getting better!
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